When I was younger, I had a passion for creating characters and stories. I was inspired by Japanese comic artists Koge-Donbo and Matsuri Hino for their worlds, stories, and style which sparked my imagination and creativity into developing my own. Throughout my years as an artist, I have struggled with consistency in style and recently, retaining my art interest. For a long time, I put personal art making on the backburner because it no longer felt fun to do. It became a chore. I felt art was stressful and in turn, I wasn’t happy with what I made. I admired my younger, passionate self for producing more art than I do today. On the bright side, my skills improved and I learned a lot over the years that are poured into my digital paintings.

 

My canvas is a screen -- my instrument, an inkless pen. Working with digital art programs, I start my digital painting with a sketch I envision, slowly refining it into its finished product that I am satisfied with. Because I work on a computer, I can easily undo a mistake, copy, and paste, and use other tools and tricks in the program. Learning about some of these tools from digital artists Wang Ling and Ross Tran helped me understand the art programs better in order to enhance my paintings further. In addition, I don't have to worry much about messing up and spending more time than needed. During my process, I paint in a traditional manner using one layer, but I make copies of it when I believe I’m going to make big changes in one session. Most importantly, I use additional layers and filters to adjust and correct the subject and colors to my liking during and at the end of a painting bringing my pieces a step further to my vision.

 

The digital paintings I produce serve as a means of connecting to my past self and rebuilding my relationship with art. They depict stories I created in the past and present. They involve various characters interacting with other people and the world around them. I keep everything naturalistic but exaggerate or simplify certain areas such as the eyes and nose to attain a semi-realistic style. As I move forward improving my skills and broadening my range, I hope my stories and characters influence others to connect with their inner artist, explore their imagination, and create their own worlds.